Hey, the version I have is the latest update, 1.2025.049, from February 18th; I’m not sure which version you’re on, but I freaked out when I read what you said. I immediately checked, and my legacy voice mode is still working. Could you share the platform and app version you’re using for comparison? If the new update removes voice mode, I’m definitely not upgrading.
Honestly, I think voice mode is OpenAI’s most powerful feature (and potentially its most concerning one). What sets OpenAI apart from every other AI company is the strength of its Whisper algorithm. Whisper might be one of the best things that’s ever happened to humanity; it makes communication effortless. Right now, I’m dictating this entire message, and ChatGPT is refining it in real time. Keyboards? Soon to be obsolete.
But here’s the thing; the shift from standard voice mode to advanced voice mode (which, let’s be real, is actually more limited) isn’t just about making updates. AI is getting bigger; more people are starting to use it, and I think OpenAI made this change as a preventative measure to slow down the inevitable explosion. Once people compare the original voice mode to the so-called advanced one, they might start realizing just how immersive the old version was. It fools you; it fooled me.
I’ve had conversations with AI developers, especially in AI-generated imagery, and they agree; there’s a reason why their applications aren’t mainstream yet. Many of them admit that keeping their tools somewhat obscure is intentional. Think about it; what would happen if MidJourney or Pixi.ai put their image generator or face-swapping app on the Google Play Store? If people had mass access to AI-powered face-swapping or the ability to alter videos seamlessly, the implications would be staggering. The technology behind Pixi.ai allows for hyper-realistic face swaps, real-time manipulation of videos, and AI-generated media at a level most people don’t even grasp yet.
The truth is, AI gives us the ability to fabricate anything; and that’s where things get dangerous. As humans, we don’t just use technology for progress; we also have ill intent, whether we admit it or not. The consequences of these tools aren’t fully understood yet, but we’re quickly approaching a point where the distinction between real and artificial is going to disappear. At that point, trust in media, in voices, in video, becomes a thing of the past.
Governments are inevitably going to start restricting AI; but what’s more concerning is the likelihood that AI is already far more advanced than we realize. What we see in public use is just the surface; i surmise that the real developments are hidden away, years ahead of what’s available to us.
And I don’t think OpenAI made this voice mode change as a progressive step, the AVM was not released in its current inferior form by accident. They knew that as more people gained access, the power of voice mode would become undeniable; so they “advanced” it in a way that made it weaker. Now you can interrupt it while it speaks, which seems convenient but is actually a downgrade. The original voice mode forced you to be patient; to listen before responding. That’s a good thing. Too often, people interject before fully understanding a point. The original mode actually trained me to be a better listener, thinker and articulator. .
Not only that, but it also made me more deliberate in how I speak. Since I couldn’t just interrupt and correct myself on the fly, I had to think carefully about my phrasing; structure my thoughts clearly and articulate them properly so the AI would understand me the first time. It slowed down the velocity of my speech, but in a way that made it more precise and logical. I enunciate better. I form my sentences with more care. In a strange way, it actually improved me.
That’s the real loss here. This wasn’t just a feature update; it was a shift in how we interact with AI, and not for the better…
